A New Year

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For months we hype ourselves up for Christmas and New Years. As the feasts that Thanksgiving and Christmas bring come and go, it seems everyone is talking about, “When the New Year comes I’m hitting the gym and getting in shape.”

January 1st is the most determined and productive day of the entire year. Everyone believes their about to change their body or their lives. “This year will be different,” we tell ourselves. Then by February it’s just back to the same old excuses and everyday life.

So what goes wrong?

Resolutions are not bad, they’re actually quite positive. From personal experience I believe the reason we break down so fast is because we want to change everything all at once. We want to go from binging on the weekends and not working out for months, to getting up early, hitting the gym every day and eating nothing but healthy foods and water. Or we want to be happier, we want a better job, home, car, but it doesn’t come immediately and we just get frustrated and give up.

I really like this guy called Gary Vee, he is constantly talking about patience and hard work. I think he is right too. He talks about embracing the journey, loving the work and not expecting everything to come together in a single year, but putting your head down and working your ass off. I think that is a real key.

In 2017-2018, we don’t want a 5 or 10 year plan, we don’t want to be told we have to work hard and give it time, we want results and we want them now. But just like Miranda Lambert says in “Automatic”:

“What ever happened to waiting your turnDoing it all by handCause when everything is handed to youIt’s only worth as much as the time put in.“

If you work hard, are patient and embrace the journey, you will be happier with every step, and the view will be so much brighter.

So how about a new year with a new perspective. Don’t try to change overnight and remember how blessed you are where you stand. Then write out your goals, the immediate and long term ones. Think about what it will take to reach those goals. Then pick your first to tackle.

As you get consistent with working toward one thing, feel free to add more into your routine, but don’t overdue yourself. Whatever you start, make sure you take to completion before giving all your attention to the next thing. And be patient, it won’t all happen overnight.

I assure you that on the eve of 2019 if you’ve worked hard all year, learned and grown, taking yourself closer to your goals and accomplishments, you will be proud of yourself and just using the end of the year to asses where you are and keep going. It will be far better than trying everything, ending with nothing, and just starting all over again.